Guard Geese! Help!

Hello Fellow Permies,

I am a new land owner and our first homestead animal is chickens. Because of the unique nature of our property I also got 2 geese to help with protection/alerting (yes I have other forms of protection as well). I am going back and forth wondering if 2 geese are a good idea or if I only need 1?

Many sources I have read say that 2 will bond to each other and will not watch out for the chickens. Other sources say up to 2 is fine. I have a safe, happy home for the second goose if need be, but I don't want to re-home unless absolutely necessary.

Does anyone have a guard goose pair with 15 chickens and it works out well? All are being raised together as babies.

Thanks!

Your approach is not completely correct.

1st Goose need company as a herd animal, hence one alone must be kept.

Two Geese might bond, but still they make noise and if they are well trained they will even chase grown ups off their home area.
No joke you can train Geese, not like you would train a dog but you can encourage them to do things they fear or are uncertain about.

But, the best would be, if your space allows have at least 6 - 10.
They will just make almost everything run and with the impressive noise they make they will stop many predators that would attack your chickens..

The do not need to bond with the chickens, they only need to be owner of the same area..

Howdy, Caley Tolver! Welcome to Permies!

You're doing the right thing. The best guard geese I have had are those that are raised right alongside the chicken chicks. If you can get a goose raised by a chicken hen, even better.

Yes, two geese will bond with each other, but they also take turns sleeping, so it works out. I have had as many as 5 guard geese at a time, and the geese will hang around with each other, but they also track the chickens and will make ALL THE NOISE, which is what you want.
Starting early, try to keep them in the same brooding space and make sure they spend lots of time as a large group. Goslings are great with smaller chicks, even though it seems counter-intuitive. The only hard part is trying to keep goslings out of water containers, but that's something you have to figure out as you go along.

Goslings will bond with everything. Try not to be their main focus. It's hard to walk that very narrow line of being their flock leader, but not being their romantic interest. The best thing is to be The Food Bringer and Giver of All Good Things, but not spend lots of time or handle them too much. I did my best to only pick them up when I had to move them into or out of the brooder, and never cuddled them. They protected the chicken chicks from a young age and are at it right now!
My best goose guard was hatched and raised by a hen, but that's a second generation thing. Pat the Goose was the best goose ever and I miss his fluffy butt...

Make sure the feed you give them isn't medicated and has Brewer's yeast or is formulated for game birds and/or waterfowl chicks. The chicken chicks will be fine on it and chicken starter can kill goslings.
Teach them that if they make noise for a good reason, you'll come running. That's what you need them to do.
Goslings are as food motivated as any other small critter, and they are easy to train. Teach them basic manners while they're young and they should be fun to work with.
They will start grazing early, so having them out on some well protected grass is good for them - just keep an eye out.

Good luck with your small gaggle and your growing flock!

So much depends on the personality and breeds of the birds, that there's no one right answer from my experience. I have some adult geese and the Gander is only a year old and has been quite a handful this year with the Muscovy, rather than being protective of them. We had a second gander and that was aggravating the situation, so we had to remove him from the equation. However, now the adults have adopted two Muscovy hatched and raised goslings, and yet don't seem to want to adopt they younger goslings. Let's just say there's never a dull moment!

At this stage, you don't even know the sex. I have heard that a single goose who decides the "flock" is their "flock" is ideal, or if you have more than one, the same sex would be better than two different sexes. The trouble is that every "rule" has an exception. The last pair of Geese we had, were much better at gathering everybody up if there was any sign of trouble. I'm hoping the current ones will grow into that role, but they're rescue geese and seem to have a lot of Emdon in them, and they seem to be a more aggressive breed. Some of my goslings are from eggs from anther farm, so I'm hoping they will be better at the group protection, particularly since they've all been hatched by Muscovy.

I think that all you can do is observe and see how things progress. Spending time observing their behavior is valuable time spent. I find that frequently, no matter what and who, they go through a "teenage male only thinking of sex" stage. If you can weather that period through various approaches, I would wait until it has passed before making definite decisions about keeping one or both.